Blundering council says no to ‘proper whack’ plans
AN ANIMAL sanctuary boss was astonished to receive a reply from council planners telling her ‘your proposal is whack’ and ‘no mate, proper whack’.
Amey James had asked for permission for the Happy Pants Ranch to remain on its site in Bobbing, Kent – only to get the sarcastic refusal from Swale Borough Council.
‘The future of the ranch depends on this decision,’ she said.
But it turned out her planning application wasn’t the only one to be published with a bizarrely worded decision.
A butcher’s change of use to a takeaway in Sittingbourne was turned down with the official comments reading simply ‘no’, and ‘just don’t’.
Partial demolition of the Wheatsheaf pub in Sittingbourne was approved – with the remark ‘incy, wincy, spider’.
A fifth application, to knock down the Old House At Home pub in Sheerness for flats, was also given the thumbs-up – but accompanied by the comment ‘why am I doing this, am I the chosen one?’
The gaffes happened when a ‘junior’ official at Mid Kent planning service, which handles online planning matters for the council, accidentally published five ‘dummy’ decisions while trying to resolve a software issue.
However, they are now legally binding and correcting them will cost Swale council £8,000.
Ms James said: ‘Obviously the comments are quite laughable, but if I had gone on online before I saw an email from the council about the error I think I would have had a heart attack.’
Swale council said it was ‘angered and frustrated’ about the errors leading to the issuing of false planning decision notices and promised they would be rectified. It added it ‘expects to use the judicial review process to have the decisions quashed’.